Shock!
by PoisonousWords
Summary: This story is based in the Transformers: Animated continuity after Optimus and his team return to Cybertron and put Megatron in prison. Then, a Decepticon femme is caught running around the Elite Guard Command Center, who reveals to Optimus and the others the havoc Sentinel wreaked while they were away; and reveals another side to the war, The Exiles. OC based, rating may change.
1. Chapter 1

Heavy footsteps reverberated off the metal walls of the empty hallway, empty, that is, save for five of what seemed to be giant alien robots. Except that on Cybertron, these said robots home-planet, they're of relatively small size. So that rules out giant and alien, and as for being robots? They prefer the term Autobot.

Suddenly, quicker, heavier footsteps could be heard down the hall, followed by yelling and laughing.

"What was _that_?" One of the Autobots, a very short, yellow one, in fact, asked in a panicked voice. He looked to a red-and-blue Autobot on his left, then to another one on his right. This other was white with blue highlights.

"Don't know," The white and blue 'bot said, "But it sounds like someone's in trouble."

"I'd know the sound of that voice anywhe-" The red-and-blue one started, when suddenly two other robots flashed down the hallway towards them. One was gray, white, and blue, the other gold, black, and blue.

"Look out!" The gray one shouted, its arm shot out to an abnormally long length and shoved the Autobots into a nearby wall.

The stunned Autobots quickly got to their feet to chase after them, when a familiarly annoyed voice sounded from behind them.

"Just look at what those _insubordinate _rebels did to me," The newly arrived Autobot, who was usually blue and orange, seethed. He was drenched in neon pink paint, some of which was pervading into his armor, "I swear," he bundled his hands into fists, "when I find those… arggh!" His voice trailed off as he growled in absolute fury.

"Sentinel Prime, sir," The blue and white 'bot asked worriedly, "What happened to you?"

"For your information, _Jazz,_" Sentinel said sourly as he turned his glare to the blue and white 'bot, "Those two hooligans just tried to _kill _me!"

"Oh, I'm sure they were just messin' around-" Jazz began to explain, when Sentinel cut him off.

"Well, as far as I'm concerned, they're both _Decepticons_," He crossed his arms and turned his back to the other Autobots, his disputatious character kicking in.

"What are you _talking _about, Sentinel?" The red-and-blue Autobot's eyes widened as his friends behind him gasped.

"Well, _Optimus_," The pink-painted Autobot addressed his rival, "Didn't you notice anything _strange _about those two?" He raised an eyebrow in the direction the two presumed Decepticons fled.

"Well, yeah," The yellow and black 'bot smirked, "one of them had really…l-long…arms," His smirk faded away and his eyes widened in terror, he gasped and turned to his other companion, this one being a very large, green Autobot named Bulkhead, whose eyes were wide open as well. Almost simultaneously, heavy footsteps could be heard down the hallway the two supposed Decepticons disappeared down.

The gray escapee appeared followed by a huge Autobot. The right side of this Autobot's body was orange, the other blue. The Autobot behemoth had put a gag and stasis cuffs on the Decepticon.

Sentinel smiled, "Ah, nice work, Safeguard, you caught one of the Deceptico-" The gray Cybertronian struggled in vain against the stasis cuffs at his remark, it seemed as if the 'con was shouting angrily beneath the gag.

As the Decepticon continued struggling, the Autobots behind Sentinel gasped. And with good reason, the Decepticon looked almost exactly like Long Arm Prime, an Autobot traitor with the ability to stretch out his limbs to incredibly long lengths, hence his given name, who had turned out to be a shape-shifting Decepticon in disguise, called Shockwave. The only obvious differences between the two were that this 'con was a femme, and that Shockwave was currently locked up in the Elite Guard Prison.


	2. Chapter 2

Feeling the stares of the other Autobots, the femme stopped struggling and turned to stare back, almost sympathetically. Under her eyes were barely legible, Ancient Cybertronian symbols. Sentinel continued to babble and brag while the other Autobots exchanged glances.

Feeling pity for her, Optimus spoke up against Sentinel's plans to put the femme in the Elite Guard Prison, "Sentinel, shouldn't we at _least_ learn her incentive before throwing her in prison?"

"_Incentive,_" Sentinel argued, "does any _Decepticon _really _need _an incentive? _You, _more than anyone, should know how _evil_ they are!" Optimus glanced at the Decepticon femme and frowned when his team medic spoke up.

"He _does _have a point, kid," Ratchet said in his old, rusty voice.

"I don't care," Sentinel glared at the other Prime's words, "I want to get to the nub of the situation, after all, if _any _Decepticon would choose to strike an onslaught on Autobot officials, why _now?_"

Optimus did have a point. After all, the Decepticon leader, Megatron, had been captured on Earth by his crew, at a terrible price. But the imprisonment of their leader had caused many Decepticons to retreat; and because there were fewer battles, there were a decreasing number of wounded and deceased Autobots, as Ratchet put it. Optimus remembered the old field medic's exact words, "Fewer battles: Fewer catastrophes."

The other Autobots stared at Sentinel, waiting for his decision. He glanced around at the others with a dumbfound look, and then glanced at the Decepticon with a frown. After a long moment of awkward silence, he sighed, finally bored of the argument, "Fine," he turned to Safeguard, who had separated into Jetfire and Jetstorm, "Take off the prisoner's gag, let's hear what this '_con _has to say…"

The femme jerked her head and started yelling beneath the gag again. Jetfire held her arms at her right side while Jetstorm carefully removed the gag; she was easily a head taller than the twins. Optimus started to think that he might have made a mistake. Sentinel gave him an "I-told-you-so" smirk, mixed with a "This-is-why-we-don't-do-that" frown. After a small struggle, Jetstorm finally managed to remove the bind covering her mouth.

"Down with Lenitness," she blurted out, glaring up at the Autobots.

"What is _that_ supposed to mean?" Sentinel scowled down at the 'con, while the twins held her on either side so that she was stooping over.

The femme glanced up at Sentinel and smirked wildly, "If you don't understand, then Cybertron is in more trouble than I thought," she said while pulling herself up to her full height, effectively shaking off Jetstorm and Jetfire, "Now if you'll excuse me," the Autobots tensed and drew out their weapons as she vainly attempted to remove the stasis cuffs, "I have somewhere to be, places to see."

"You is not going anywhere…" Jetfire said as he created a ball of fire in the palm of his hand with his special abilities.

"Yeah, you is being arrested for your crimes, Decepticon," Jetstorm finished as he bundled his fists and created wind currents around them.

She screwed up her face in a scowl, "I am no _Decepticon_…"she glared at Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Ratchet, who all glared back, "And I have a _name,_ you know."

"Why would _we _want to know your name, _Decepticreep_," Bumblebee hissed as he raised his stingers, "After all, you're all the sa-"

"That's enough, Bumblebee," Optimus raised his hand for Bumblebee to stop, "Let's hear what she has to say."

"Optimus," Sentinel raised an eyebrow while the other Autobots stared in disbelief, "Don't tell me you're on _her _side!"

Optimus raised his hands to explain, and hopefully calm down the seething pink-painted Prime, "I _just _want to hear what she has to say," he turned to the femme, who had started stooping over again do to the power of the stasis cuffs.

_I'm surprised that she's even awake, let alone functioning_, Optimus thought.

"Now," he started, "You said you had a name, care to tell us what it is?" he raised an eyebrow when the Long Arm-look-alike smirked.

"I call myself Never, Never Ever," she straightened up a little and her smile grew, "Now, I'd shake your hand, but I'm a little _tied up_ at the moment."

"Pff, Never Ever," Everyone turned to look at Bumblebee and Bulkhead, who were holding in there laughs, "What-hahaha-kind of a _name_ is that?"

Never rolled her optics, and her smirk lessened as she sighed, "As a matter-of-fact, it's the answer I get whenever I tell this tin can," she jerked her head towards Sentinel, "that_ I_ want to be in the Elite Guard."

Bumblebee and Bulkhead stopped laughing and everyone stared at Never with wide optics, the very air seemed to stop and hold its breath.

Optimus glanced at the faces of his teammates; they all stood still, petrified as they thought of the same thing as he did, or rather of _who_ they thought of. He looked at Bumblebee and Bulkhead, who had been in the same Autoboot camp dorm as Shockwave when he was hiding under his fake name. Shockwave had disguised himself as an Autobot to gather information for Megatron _and_ had almost _killed_ Ultra Magnus with his own hammer. And now, this, _Long arm-look-alike, _this femme, who had broken into the Elite Guard Command Center, pranked the acting Magnus, and had openly said she hoped to be an _Elite Guard_ was standing there looking at them as if they were all destined for the scrapheap!

She looked at them; her brows furrowed together, a sad smile written on her faceplates. They were _afraid _of her, _afraid _because of the way she looked, _afraid _because they were so lost in the idea that you were evil because of how you looked; because of what the "Important Ones" said about you, that they always went by the book, always did what they were told, always stood at attention when ordered. Had all hope died away? She hoped not. Never glanced at the red-and-blue One, He became an Important One the day everyone started paying attention to who he was. He was Optimus Prime, and if she could get him to trust her she might just have a chance.


End file.
